After the cliffhanger ending of book 1, this book opens with such a non-event. It was a few days after the end of book 1, maybe even a couple of weeks, but because readers didn't actually get to see what happened right after but only told in few words what's happened to bring them to now, it felt very much a let down.

Maybe it was the inauspicious beginning or maybe it was the annoying protagonist, I really struggled with this book. I was fascinated by book 1. There was the clever magic system and the stiff competitions. There should've been more excitement in this book with a quest to defeat evil and save the world but there wasn't. I was finding the protagonist's ease of offence at the slightest of slight or seen slight irritating. And her uncertainty for the boy she loves exasperating. It was just mentioned few too many times throughout. Except for the last 50 pages or so, the novel drags.